Today is not just Tuesday - it is the Fourth of July in my homeland. A day to celebrate FREEDOM from oppressors dating back to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Here in Berlin, in 1791, the Brandenburg Gate was completed as a symbol of peace. Later it was trapped behind the Berlin Wall like the people that Wall was meant to contain and control. . . until it didn't.
Yesterday I stood beneath the magnificent and massive gate which is adjacent to the U.S. embassy flying its red, white, and blue flag. The juxtaposition of these two symbols of freedom gave me pause. I felt linked to a story I did not live, but had grown up hearing and reading about. I couldn't help but think of the parallels with stories of oppression being written today in my own country. How Berlin came to its own ugly, not so distant past, so far from its monument to peace and freedom provides a cautionary tale for us.
Old and new friends in England, spoke about the precariousness of the States today, like a see-saw that could tip either way. I imagine that was true for Germany as it teetered between freedom and oppression: The people voted for Hitler! The rest, as they say is History and a very dark story that exists with its many scars on the landscape in the Holocaust Memorial; the violin music played daily in the Tiergarten (think Central Park) to remember the genocid ases; the remnants of a Wall torn down after forty years, by people like you and me.
Today is not just Tuesday - It is the Fourth of July, a day celebrating FREEDOM from oppressors! Yet, today in the midst of celebrating, there are bans against reading many books; bans against making private choices; bans against dressing as one wishes; bans against voting without fear; and, the worst oppression of all, fear to speak one's mind openly in public spaces which feels to me like a ban. I recently read that authoritarians want people to self-censor. That is totally anathema to OUR Constitution celebrated today across the United States: "We hold these truth to be self-evident, that all are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Here, in Germany, both Hitler and the Wall failed, but at a very high cost to life, liberty and happiness. Both crumbled because the peoples' will and spirit resisted oppression. The will of resistance proved to be more powerful than the MEN who forced their own wills on others. Without a doubt, this was the best outcome in the end. But the slippery slope to oppression should be avoided at all times by those of us who know better, i.e., "We the people . . ." you and me together, friends. We must not be afraid to speak truth to power. Not now, not ever!
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